


Legends of Xanadu - Side Stories

by TechnicalZombie



Series: Villains and Heroes [3]
Category: Original Work
Genre: F/F, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-31
Updated: 2020-08-25
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:41:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25638205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TechnicalZombie/pseuds/TechnicalZombie
Summary: An interview released as part of promotions for a book detailing the early days of heroes and villains like Pulsar and Menace.
Series: Villains and Heroes [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1814566
Kudos: 4





	1. Interview - The Mighty Pulsar

Legends of Xanadu – Interviews: The Mighty Pulsar

With The Eye of Xanadu Review Reporter: Jessie Wills

Pulsar: Oh, it’s just Pulsar, please. I don’t have any titles on this planet.

Jessie Wills: Oh, The Eye insisted on granting the title.

P: Really? Then I accept. I’ve always respected The Eye’s investigative reporting division. It’s the tabloid division I take issue with. And your employment practices, until recently.

JW: T̆̈́̆̍̍̽h̨̬̳͉̱̫͍ͭ͆̀ͯ̉͗ê̬̭̦̭̻͉̰ͮ̿͌ͬ ̜̼ͬ̐̈́̏̚̕E̱̎ͣ̐̽ͮ̓̀ý̷̠̥̣̯̘́e̙͆ ̻̞͖͕̲̙̤̄͑̽ͫi̗̪̙̙̬ͬ͊̾͋̐̽s̨̺̹̗͒̐̐̚ ̰̰͓̆p̛̠̼̠͖̫͎̃ͫ͒ͦͤ̑ͦͅḻ͖̫͈̞̜̻͒̿̍ͧͫͥ̏ḛ̢̐̓̀̅a̢̦͚̫̘̭̽ͦ̀s̷ͯe͏͕͇̙̪ḍ̠̝̠͙̊͟!͖̞̺̺̬

P: I’m sure that’s not allowed anymore.

JW: Oh! I’ve granted consent. You see, I’m pregnant with their spawn.

P: Oh…congratulations?

JW: Thank you! Now let’s begin. As everyone knows, this is your first ever interview. You’ve been Xanadu’s top favorite and most powerful hero for a number of years, and now you work with the Watchtower team, defending Earth from existential threats.

P: Yes. Everything from hostile rampant AI to meteors.

JW: Any uh…interesting events, recently?

P: Hmm…oh! We altered the course of an exosolar meteor headed for Earth. It would have hit in about a hundred years and turned out to be a kind of colony ship. It was filled with a sort of pre-programmed primordial soup, primed to adapt to whatever environment it landed in and rapidly evolve towards a specific body plan. Besides the potential extinction event of the impact, the biological contamination was also a threat.

JW: Goodness, what did you do with it?

P: Oh, dropped it on Venus. We should have some interesting neighbors in about five million years.

JW: Well, maybe I’ll be around for that.

P: …sure, maybe.

JW: Now, since this interview is coming out at the same time as Mind’s new book, Masks of Xanadu, Mind has requested we not worry about spoilers.

P: They insist the threat will help sell more copies.

JW: Wit that in mind, I’ve read the advance copy and, wow, a lot of startling revelations about you and Menace. And the truth about Xenomech, I was shocked. So was The Eye.

P: Rin always wanted our stories told eventually.

JW: We couldn’t help but notice most facts about Pantheon have been left out, aside from the publicly verifiable details of your battles alongside them as their mentor and combat trainer.

P: Mind feels they’re not ready for that kind of media exposure.

JW: Would you mind revealing a few innocent facts about the team?

P: So long as I get to choose. Lets say, one each.

JW: Wonderful? Let’s start with the team leader, **_Blæskjöldur._** Er…why does her name do that?

P: No idea. But I do think it’s cool. Uh…random fact. She hates Skyrim. Won’t play it. Won’t watch anyone play it. Except for that intro screen track.

JW: Ok. Bifrost.

P: Briefly dated a parasitic space wasp.

JW: W-what!?

P: They broke up when he found out they wanted to, you know, inject him with a larva egg that would devour him upon hatching.

JW: That’s…uhmm…very interesting.

[A disgruntled and vaguely jealous rumble vibrates the room.]

P: Apparently the companion species on their home planet considers it a great honor to be chose. I felt a bit bad for the poor dear, I hope they found someone back home.

JW: Right. How about Pharaoh?

P: She’s actually descended from Old Kingdom Pharaohs, not Cleopatra. That’s actually just a correction of a misconception. Lets see…oh! She’s the DM for the team’s D&D nights.

JW: Interesting, and Jesus?

P: Another correction here, he’s not a reborn messiah, please stop trying to worship him or ask for miracles. Jesus[she uses the Spanish pronunciation] is his proper name. He’s a Warlock and his patron is an Aztec god. I don’t know which one. Oh, and he eats ghost peppers as a party trick. Grows them himself. Currently his record is 1.1 million Scoville Units.

JW: Yikes. Apollo?

P: Once asked me to fight Hera but we had lunch instead and now she’s going to preside over my wedding to Menace.

JW: Wait, really?

P: It’s going to be very private so don’t ask.

JW: Aww, ok. Czernobog?

P: She hates American ketchup. Won’t touch it.

JW: And Belobog?

P: Harasses her sister with ketchup related pranks. Also, the two of them think I don’t speak Russian, but I do, very fluently. So, I’d like to take this opportunity to let them know I heard everything they said.

JW: What did they say?

P: They know what they did.

JW: I see. Well, overall, what's it been like mentoring Pantheon.

P: It's been wonderful. A teacher learns as much from her students as they do from her. Possibly more. From a technical point of view, my role has been to guide them into combat roles they're most suited for, and teach them how to compensate when out on their own. A lone hero can be simultaneously more dangerous and more vulnerable, than with a team.

JW: And what about your personal relationships with them?

P: I suppose I've become closest to Bifrost. We have very similar backgrounds. And while the others have adult supers, or gods in certain cases, to guide them through their personal lives, Bifrost had no one. And he came to the team with no experience at all. Everyone else had already learned to fight on their own to some extent. So, while they may have had habits to unlearn in order to fight with a team, Bifrost needed to learn everything from scratch. Fortunately, he's a talented and dedicated boy, I think with time he may become on of the two most skilled combatants of the team.

JW: Oh? Who are the two most skilled now?

P: Pharoh and Jesus tend to vie for the top slot.

JW: Are you worried at all that revealing these kinds of details will endanger the team at all?

P: I think anyone who underestimates the rest of the team just because of that little tidbit is extremely foolish and deserves the thrashing they'll get as a result.

JW: Oh, well let's hope someone catches that thrashing on camera.

JW: Let's move on to Watchtower. I'd like to do the facts thing again. Tempest.

P: He's Norwegian by birth.

JW: What, really?

P: Oh yes, but his family's Ugandan. So, he spent a lot of time in Africa, especially that region, during his early years. He also picks up languages with perfect fluency incredibly fast. Also, if he and Howard get together, it's this Maximum Dad energy of puns and caring about you. It's wonderful.

JW: Ok, Melder.

P: Sucker for romance and fix-it fanfiction.

JW: Huh. How about The Slayer.

P: Runs an animal rescue and rehab center in his spare time. I've never seen an animal react to him with fear.

JW: Unexpected. Wrecker?

P: We're old friends, I just call him Billie. And he loves cute sim games, like Stardew Valley or Animal Crossing.

JW: Also unexpected and also endearing. What about Nemesis.

P: Wanted me to mention in this interview she's gay and single and interested ladies should e-mail her at [nemesis@watchmail.net](mailto:nemesis@watchmail.net), also she's a Pisces. I'd like to add she's a very skilled origami artist.

JW: Ooohkay, one dating ad, got it. What about Athena?

P: Four of us, her, Billie, Howard, and I, have a shared Minecraft server where we've been constructing a scale model of Olypmus. She directs the construction, of course. Oh! And she designed my new suit! It's an update of Rin's last design and takes advantage of new technology and meta-materials. She presented it to me when I joined the team.

JW: And speaking of Ha Rin, lets talk about your former teammates. Blue Shift vanished from the scene just a little while after Xenomech did. Where is he?

P: I can't discuss it, except to saw that Watchtower knows where he is and what he's doing.

JW: Isn't Watchtower's primary focus exosolar threats?

P: Out primary focus, yes, but it's not the only thing we do.

JW: And Xenomech?

P: Well, as reveled in the book, Rin was Xenomech. And she…succumbed to ALS. She invented her way into an extra year of full functionality, I was able to help in a limited fashion, but in the end, there was no cure. Rin was…probably the smartest, most skilled hero ever. A true mega-genius too, certainly on par with Menace, whom I love dearly so perhaps I have a type in that way. Without her I doubt Blue Shift and I would have been as effective as we were. Her suit designs were a decade ahead of their time. Even Athena mentioned the last suit she built for me was at least on par with any bleeding edge tech outside of the Watchtower labs of today. It's difficult to say too many good things about Rin.

[Pause]

And…and one other thing. Something I said to Rin very early on, and something she wanted me to pass on to anyone out there, superhero or otherwise, who might be "doomed" in some way. At the time, I just wanted her to feel better but she saw the wisdom in my words long before I did.

If you're doomed, you have a curse, a terminal disease, marked for death by shadow cults, whatever. Don't push people who love you away just to spare them the pain. You are _worth_ the pain. You are worth the grief that comes after. You are worth the scars that stay forever. You don't need to earn it. Love them and let them love you. I had Rin for a scant few years but every instant was worth the…[pause]…the pain that is still with me. I wouldn't trade it for anything. So, whoever you are, let them love you. Fight to live while you can. Let them fight for you when you can't anymore. And never think you have to earn that love. They've already given it.

[here JW offers Pulsar a tissue]

Thank you. I…I have given that speech in some form to a couple of young heroes. It always makes me emotional.

JW: It is…quite inspiring. Hopefully someone who needs to hear it will also listen.

P: So, do I. And it was Rin's hope they would as well.


	2. Pulsar and Menace - Birth? Not Quite…

Pulsar is pacing in the waiting room.

It's not really a waiting room. It's the central core of Menace's first and primary lair, one she never actually found until they started dating. Temporary curtains and a Machine Plastic bubble have been erected to wall off a sterile environment. The waiting area is curtained off, furnished with almost comfortable chairs as is traditional, and harshly lit, also traditional. Pulsar isn't pacing in her supersuit, she's wearing a rumpled hoodie and jeans, pacing in her Converse All-Stars. Meanwhile, Athena, looking regal in blue and white chiton tied with a silver rope and wearing plain leather sandals, sits reading a Popular Mechanics magazine. Every so often a sliver of silver energy will zip around Pulsar's leg or arm and strike a curtain or a chair. A small, charred, hole will appear before micro-machines deploy from a nearby cannister and the hole is repaired in a cloud of grey smoke.

"You're not helping." Athena comments calmly.

"I should be." Pulsar replies, and flinches when another little burst of literally nervous energy strikes the floor.

"The power interaction would kill one or both of them." Athena reminds her. "Have faith in Asclepios."

"Does it still work if you have faith in him and I have faith in your judgement?" Pulsar asks.

"It doesn't hurt. Now sit down."

Pulsar sits down, and instantly begins bouncing her leg until Athena places a hand on her arm. Her nerves seem to settle almost, the uneasy energy flowing through her settles and flows normally again.

"How do you do that?" Pulsar asks.

"For the gods, all things are possible." Athena says cryptically. "Even calming a nervous mother while her spouse and child are in crisis and she is feeling helpless."

"Maybe I should pray to Hera too." Pulsar half-jokes.

"You might not want that kind of attention." Athena says seriously, "Besides she is busy. It may take more than a goddess to defeat the American pro-life movement and their heinous ideology."

Pulsar makes a disgusted face. "Yikes. Yeah, ok, I shouldn't bother her."

At that moment, the door to the isolation bubble opens, and an elderly doctor exits, removing his mask and other scrubs, which vanish in a little cloud of micro machines, devoured and recycled.

"The operation was successful. You can see them now. If you want to help Menace recover with your power, do it gently." Asclepios says.

Pulsar is already up and rushing past him. The surgery is spotless, the god of physicians naturally performs perfectly spotless work. Menace is laying on the bed, dressed but looking tired. The instant Pulsar touches their hand she lets a trickle of healing power flow into her spouse. Menace takes a deep relieved breath before kissing her cheek.

"That's just right my darling, keep that up. I feel better already."

"And…" Pulsar can't bring herself to ask the question burning in her mind.

"And our child is safe." Menace answers, "Here, I'll show you."

They stand, a little unsteadily at first, but quickly buoyed by Pulsar's healing power. They lead Pulsar to a control panel and tap a few keys. Soon the curved wall slides away, revealing a large tank. Multicolored energy courses randomly through the viscous fluid inside, silver, gold, violet, and black are the most common, but all colors of the spectrum are represented in smaller quantities. In the center, a fetus floats inside an amorphous bubble of tissue, a long umbilical cord leads to a delicate cybernetic attachment the also pulses with energy. The baby moves occasionally. When Pulsar touches her hand to the glass, the tendrils of energy flow towards her, touching the glass before moving off through the fluid, eventually making contact with metallic nodes throughout the walls of the gestation tank.

"In most respects you have a perfectly normal and healthy six-month old child." Asclepios says entering the surgery with Athena.

"Why did this happen?" Pulsar asks.

"First, you should know this is not your fault." Asclepios. "I know you used experimental hormone treatment in your youth. A treatment that, in my opinion and the growing opinion of the medical community, was approved far too quickly. So reckless to be so cavalier with gene-therapy! The study did not consider potential pregnancies. Of course, I cannot discount the role your powers might have played. Still, you are not the only couple with an intersex child as a result. Interestingly, they have both sets of genitals intact and separate. It will be a simple matter to remove one should they choose that later in life. Keeping both should pose no health risks."

"What?" Pulsar turns and looks closely at her child floating in the gestation tank. "Oh…that's not actually what I was asking about. I'm glad there's no issue of course, but what about…" she waves to the tendrils of energy flitting about the tank and entering the nodes.

"Oh! That!" Asclepios laughs, "That's merely super-power transference! Not uncommon among super-humans, I was prepared for it as soon as Athena told me Menace was pregnant with your child. With that in mind it was a simple matter for Mind and Athena to manufacture a gestation tank that could absorb the excess emissions."

"I was a bit too out of it to help any." Menace adds, "But…I was rather wonderful to feel the power within me. I imagine that's what you feel all the time, though with more control."

"If Menace had been a super-human with energy projection, they might have been able to manage the extra power." Athena explains.

Menace touches their hand to the side of the tank, and grins joyfully when the tendrils of energy zip over towards their hand as they did to Pulsars. "I can still feel it a little bit. It's like we're still connected."

"I suspect you are." Says Asclepios, "And you," He nods to Pulsar, "Should commune with The Pulsar as soon as you can. I suspect your child is connected to it. It might be wise if it restricts contact with them as much as possible for now. I cannot predict how such influence might affect their brain or their made at this stage."

Pulsar nods, "The Pulsar is a very distant being. We usually only share impressions and emotions, and that rarely. I don't think it'll be a problem. And, thank you, so much. I don't know how I can repay you."

"I'm establishing a medical college in his name." Menace says, "And we have to promise to call him immediately if we decide to have another child. Oh and, we took some precautions for until then. No more unexpected pregnancies, even if you use your healing power on me. The device actually takes advantage of your energy."

"That's a relief." Pulsar says, "If we're going have a family of super-children it should be on purpose."

"We'd better be careful." Menace replies, "This is how Pantheons get started you know."

Athena and Asclepios become very quiet and stare at them.

"Er…I was just kidding?" Menace says nervously. "I already have the power to bend nation-states to my will, I don't want to be the progenitor of a new race of gods too."

The two gods stare at Menace.

"Seriously. That's too much even for me." Menace says earnestly.

Pulsar smiles, "Dear, you're already thinking about it."

"Yes. I am." Menace admits. "But I can't try without your permission."


End file.
